Dr. Janice Byrd-Badjie

Dr. Janice Byrd-Badjie (she/her) is an associate professor in the counselor education program at the Pennsylvania State University. She earned her Ph.D. in counselor education and supervision from the University of Iowa and an M.Ed. in counselor education (K-12 school counseling) from South Carolina State University. Dr. Byrd-Badjie has previous experience as a school counselor, career counselor, and with teaching youth in secondary settings. She has been affiliated with programs focused on the development of racially minoritized students such as McNair Scholars Program and Summer Research Opportunities Program. Much of her current community engagement focuses on affinity spaces for students of Color across the educational pipeline. Notably, Dr. Byrd-Badjie has received internal and external grant funding to research affinity spaces with Black girls in K-12 settings and youth mental health literacy.

Using critical epistemologies, Dr. Byrd-Badjie’s scholarship explores the lived experiences of Black people across all stages of the educational pipeline to interrogate how facets of their development (i.e., personal, social, academic, and career) is influenced by policies (education and healthcare), relationships (school, familial, and community), and broader ecological circumstances (racism, sexism, and social determinants of health) which affect their ability to be the best version of themselves.

Dr. Byrd-Badjie was elected to serve as the Program Chair (2021-24) for the Critical Examination of Race, Ethnicity, Class and Gender in Education special interest group within the American Education Research Association (AERA), has served as co-chair of the Advocacy Interest Network within the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES), has served as the ACES DEI Member-At-Large, and various other ACES committees.

Nationally and Locally, she has received several awards and acknowledgments to include:

• 2024 North Atlantic Region Association for Counselor Education and Supervision 2024 Social Justice Award
• 2023 AERA Division E’s 2023 Distinguished Research Award for article:
  • Williams, J. M., Byrd, J. A., & Washington, A. R. (2021). Challenges in implementing anti-racist pedagogy into counselor education programs: A collective self-study. Counselor Education and Supervision, 60(40), 254-273. https://doi.org/10.1002/ceas.12215
• 2022 The Review of Research Award, The American Educational Research Association -“This award is given in recognition of an outstanding review of research article appearing in the Review of Research in Education or the Review of Educational Research.” The Review of Research in Education is ranked as the number one education journal in the world. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543211027929
• 2022 The Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development’s Young Emerging Leader Award
• 2023 College of Education, The Pennsylvania State University, 2023 Outstanding Junior Researcher Award
• 2022 College of Education, The Pennsylvania State University, 2022-23 Equity Fellowship Program (appointment after peer review process) for project entitled, “I Am Because We Are" Working Toward Antiracism Through Race-Based Affinity Groups for College of Education Graduate Students of Color.”

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=D6eFFHIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao